Series of waiver schemes in pipeline to help people pay dues under MV Act

Kolkata: To aid people who had defaulted and failed to pay their outstanding motor vehicle dues on time the state government is all set to introduce a series of waiver schemes including one which will be applied for the settlement of dispute cases under the motor vehicles Act in Bengal.

The State Finance department has proposed to introduce a new settlement scheme wherein the taxpayers will get a complete waiver of interest and penalty of the outstanding tax, if the outstanding dues are paid within March 31.

The Finance department has come up with the idea for the benefit of people who had defaulted and failed to pay their outstanding motor vehicle dues on time and therefore the amount kept spiralling up with added interest.

According to a senior government official, the settlement scheme gives an opportunity to those who have failed to clear their dues on time. If they pay the money within March 31, they no longer need to bear the penalty, as the Finance department offers the settlement scheme. The scheme will help the government to collect a huge amount of revenues which still lay unrealised in this sector. In a similar initiative, the State Finance department has also proposed to waive 50 per cent of the compound fee imposed on all types of motor vehicles violations under the Motor Vehicles Act, if the payment of the compounding fine is made within March 31.

The Mamata Banerjee government is set to also introduce a waiver of interest on outstanding stamp duty of plots. The decision was announced by the State Finance minister Amit Mitra during his recent Budget statement.

According to Mitra, there are large numbers of old deeds which are pending registration due to incomplete payment of stamp duty.

Due to the high rate of interest, the registrants are unable to deposit the remaining amount to complete the registration process. As a result, the Finance minister has proposed to waive the interest of such cases so that the registrants are able to register their deeds. This move will help thousands of people, read the Budget statement of Mitra.

It is often observed that amalgamation of adjacent plots of land is required, especially in cases of family property. The present stamp duty of 5-7 per cent is imposed on such transactions. The Finance department has decided to reduce the stamp duty in such cases from 5-7 per cent to 0.5 per cent with the ceiling of Rs 3,00,000.